Americans are having too few kids. The GOP made the problem worse.

U.S. fertility rates hit a record low in 2023, the federal government reported last week. The average American woman is now expected to have just 1.6 births over her lifetime, based on age-specific birthrates last year — well below the fertility rate needed for the native-born U.S. population to replace itself (2.1 lifetime births per woman). That’s been the case consistently since 2007, but it’s only getting worse.